Golden in Death (In Death, #50) by J.D. Robb

Golden in Death by J.D. Robb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Brilliant as always!!!

A mysterious package delivered and then death at first Eve has no clue why the first victim was targeted but the death of the second victim gives Eve the link she needed to zero in on the killers and bring them to justice.

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Genesis (Jack Stapleton & Laurie Montgomery #12)

Genesis by Robin Cook
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When a young pg woman (Kera) is found dead in her apartment from an apparent overdose only Aria Nichols is suspicious mainly because she wasn't found by the fetus' Father but by a co-worker. Determined to find the Father Aria uses Genetic Genealogy to track him down, but before she can unravel the final clues she too is found dead of a drug overdose,

Jack becomes concerned when he realizes that Kera, Aria and Madison Bryant (the co-worker that found Kera's body) all died within a short period of time of each other He takes another look at Madison Bryant's autopsy and discovers she was murdered while in the ICU. Fearing that Laurie (who is in the ICU after having a mastectomy) may be next on the killer's list he rushes to her bedside where he sets a trap for the killer.

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More Pictures of the Temple of Ixchel

I took these pictures as we were leaving.

 It was nice to see some of the  local wildlife.

This is a Cozumel Island Coati. It is in the family Procyonidae, which also includes raccoons, olingos, and kinkajous. It has been treated as a species, but the vast majority of recent authorities treat it as a subspecies of the white-nosed coati.

 There were many beautiful flowering plants too.

 Interesting statuary in the Gift Shop area.

Wish getting back on the boat had been as easy as getting off. We were late getting back so we had to rush, there was an extremely LONG line, that we had to stand in forever and it started raining while we were in line.

It also poured down rain and was extremely choppy weather on the way back, so no sitting out on the balcony. Our suite was FREEZING so it was miserable trying to stay in it. Carnival doesn't have any way for you to adjust the temperature in your rooms. We did have fun at the Music Trivia and various other things we did until bedtime.

Disembarking in Mobile was also pretty miserable, but it was nice to be home.

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A heartwarming story of how one man's family copes with his Alzheimer diagnosis.

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Cozumel ~ San Gervasio

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures when we went snorkeling, I was too rushed trying to get into my snorkeling gear and listen to the instructions to take pictures and then afterwards we had to rush to get dressed and go to the ruins. Being RUSHED was my only complaint about our time on Cozumel. The resort we were at appeared really nice, I would have liked to have spent more time just hanging out and relaxing there. The snorkeling was fun and I saw lots of different fish.

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and was of Mayan descent. They prefer the ruins be called the Temple of Ixchel. Ixchel (pronounced Ishchel) was the Maya goddess of the moon, of love, of gestation, of medicine, and of the textile arts. 

The name San Gervasio comes from the Spaniard who bought the land and looted the ruins.

Sadly most if not all of the artifacts had been looted instead of preserved. The site is very impressive especially after the guide pointed out that they intentionally built a humble temple to discourage raiders as they were a small tribe and not able to withstand a large invasion unlike the tribes on the mainland.

As a complex dedicated to the worship of Ixchel they would have been sought out for marriage ceremonies and births. It would have been considered an honor to give birth at the temple in front of a priest of Ixchel.

Other than the temple the dwellings were most used for sleeping. Most of your day would have been spent outside.

The complex itself was pretty large we didn't get to cover all of it.

They had plaques in front of most of the structures explaining what they were.

Really would have liked to have spent more time just walking around and soaking up the atmosphere here.

Cozumel The Park

 This is a nice little area right where you disembark where you can wait for your tour. I enjoyed looking at the different plants.

 And the animals that made their home there.

 This was also a nice place to sit and relax while you waited.

Bo volunteered to take pictures of several couples and families and one of them returned the favor and took pictures of me and him.

It's very HOT and HUMID there in August (just like here) it's also bright and colorful. Some amazing flowers. I didn't have the chance to see much wildlife but what I did see was interesting. I really would have liked to have stayed on Cozumel longer. Maybe one day we will fly to Cozumel and stay for a few days.

Arriving in Cozumel

 We could see the lights when we first got up.

 Also a nice sunrise, very dramatic looking.

 Disembarking was easy peasy

 Keep in mind there is a Hurricane in the Gulf, the water probably isn't normally this choppy.

 The town looks interesting, no time to explore. A horse drawn carriage ride would have been nice and right up my ally, but alas no time.

 This was another cruise ship pulling into port, due to the Hurricane some ships were diverted from the Bahamas to Cozumel so it was probably more crowded this usual.

 It was nice to actually be at our destination.

It was a hurry up and wait type day and everything felt very RUSHED. We wound up waiting around to go on the tour as they were waiting for a ship that was diverted from the Bahamas to arrive. First we wound up waiting in the "touristy" area so we got to poke around the shops that were close by and explore the small park but we also wound up waiting on the bus which was no fun. Bo has some pictures of our conveyance which hopefully one day I will get to show you But it was open air, which was fine when it was moving... not so fine when you were just sitting around.

When You See Me (Detective D.D. Warren, #11; Gardner Universe, #20)

When You See Me by Lisa Gardner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book.

When a hiker discovers a body on a hiking train in a remote Georgia town Kimberly Quincy heads up the FBI task force and ask DD Warren, Flora Dane and Keith Edgar to come along. The body is believed to be the work of Jacob Ness (the man who kidnapped Flora).

D.D. becomes suspicious of the local B&B owned by the mayor and his wife, when she sees their "maid" a young mute girl they claim is their "niece". Her suspicions are proved to be on point when the mayor's wife is discovered hanging an apparent suicide. While D.D. And Kimberly are investigating the apparent suicide another maid and the cook disappear from under their noses and they take Bonita (the name D.D. gives the young mute girl) into their custody as a witness.

Meanwhile Flora discovers Walt the local recluse is Jacob Ness's Father. He not only leads Flora to the shack Jacob Ness held her in. He warns her that the woods scream at night. While his ramblings seem to be those of a mad man Flora takes a chance that Walt knows what is actually going on.

As more bodies are discovered the hunt is on for Bonita's bad man and the towns people who have aided and abetted him for years.

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Cozumel Trip Day 1 and 2

 Here we are leaving Mobile Alabama. It was interesting getting to see the port from the water.

This was cute, every day the housekeeper left a different little towel animal on the bed. There was a class you could take if you were interested in learning to make towel animals (I wasn't).

I was hoping to see dolphins or some sort of sea life but I never did. Nice view from our very small balcony, the balcony on the Carnival Cruise Ships is really to small to enjoy, but it's better than nothing and I would have went nuts without it. The rooms are way too small (and we had one of the largest stateroom on the ship, I feel really sorry for the people that had smaller rooms). Yes, they have a pool but you can't swim in it because it's full of drunks standing in it drinking and you can't even enjoy sitting around the pool with a good book as there is a band playing music way to loud. So forget peace and quite. Forget conversing with your spouse, you can't hear each other over the band. There are a few places on the ship you can go that are a little quieter, but Serenity was a HUGE disappointment. I spent most of my time on my very small balcony reading. Bo enjoyed the walking track and gym. I have to say I enjoyed the full body massage a great deal, that might have been my favorite part of the cruise portion of the trip.

Cleopatra's Lounge was interesting.

I also enjoyed our studio session, but the pictures are way too expensive.

There is a lot of hype about formal night but is really not that different than any other night meal wise except you have to dress up and the meals aren't that great. They are OK, but not fabulous. It was fun to try stuff I wouldn't normally eat, like Ox Tongue though but...

The Cruise Collectibles are more reasonably priced than the formal pictures but you really need to go look at the pictures the next day when they first put them out. We waited until the last day at sea and probably didn't find all of them as the older pictures were in bins instead of displayed on the walls.

Cruising is much more comfortable than flying, but at least with flying you get to stay at your destination as long as you want. I REALLY REALLY REALLY would have loved to have spent more time in Cozumel and less time aboard the ship. And hotel rooms (even the budget ones) are far superior to Carnival Cruise Ships' rooms.

I think I might like to do a river cruise on one of the nicer cruise lines one day, but I doubt I would do Carnival again. Unfortunately Carnival pretty much has a Monopoly on Mobile and New Orleans only offers a few more choices so if we ever do another cruise it would involve either a drive or air travel (so except for the river cruises) I don't see the point of flying somewhere to cruise. The river cruises appeal to me as you would be visiting a different location almost every day and there are things to see as you pass by the shore. Sea Days on Carnival are extremely boring unless you like to gamble or shop.

But I did have a reasonably good time. Just not my favorite vacation that's still our trips to the Canadian Rockies.